Public Lecture:

Almost daily, we’re reminded the world is a dangerous place: earthquakes in Nepal, riots in Baltimore, the Islamic State in the Middle East, religious persecution in Myanmar. So how do today’s journalists tell the stories of our violent world in ways that are both relevant to us, regardless of where we live, but also move us to empathy rather than paralyzing us with despair? And how do they protect themselves while reporting on the frontlines and in contemplating what they’ve witnessed afterwards?

These tricky, but important questions will be discussed in an address by Bruce Shapiro, an award-winning journalist and Executive Director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, a project of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The talk will take place on:

Speaker:

Bruce Shapiro

Bruce Shapiro is Executive Director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, a project of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism encouraging innovative reporting on violence, conflict and tragedy worldwide. In 2014 he received the Public Advocacy Award of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, recognizing “outstanding and fundamental contributions to the social understanding of trauma.”

An award-winning reporter on human rights, criminal justice and politics, Shapiro is a contributing editor at The Nation and U.S. correspondent for Late Night Live on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio National. His books include Shaking the Foundations: 200 Years of Investigative Journalism in America and Legal Lynching: The Death Penalty and America’s Future. Shapiro teaches ethics at Columbia Journalism School and investigative journalism at Yale University.

Almost daily, we’re reminded the world is a dangerous place: earthquakes in Nepal, riots in Baltimore, the Islamic State in the Middle East, religious persecution in Myanmar. So how do today’s journalists tell the stories of our violent world in ways that are both relevant to us, regardless of where we live, but also move us to empathy rather than paralyzing us with despair?